Department of Chemistry - PhD Student Seminar - Recent Advances in Boronic Acid Catalysis
Supporting the below United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:支持以下聯合國可持續發展目標：支持以下联合国可持续发展目标：
Student: Mr. ZHU Zheng
Department: Department of Chemistry, HKUST
Supervisor: Prof. Yangjian QUAN
Abstract
Boronic and borinic acids act as mild, tunable metal-free organocatalysts via reversible coordination with O/N substrates. Recent advances cover dehydrative peptide synthesis, polyol stereodesymmetrization, epoxide cyclization and selective glycosylation.
Chiral borinic catalysts effectively distinguish equivalent hydroxyl groups to gain high enantioselectivity, while Pd-boronic dual catalysis realizes precise carbohydrate modification. Tetracoordinate boron species and hydrogen bonding govern reaction selectivity.
Existing drawbacks are high catalyst dosage and limited asymmetric substrates. Future research will focus on modular chiral boron catalysts and photocooperative catalysis for eco-friendly drug synthesis.